Chapyer4

I woke to the sight of Valerie nestled intimately against Nathaniel’s chest.

"Darling, you said a phoenix reborn from the ashes is a beautiful sight. You wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

Nathaniel smoothed her hair, his voice dripping with reassurance. "Never. I could deceive the world, but never my sweet girl."

I shifted my neck. Chains rattled heavily against the stone.

"Awake?"

I didn't answer.

"Welcome to your new home," he said.

Valerie smiled, her gaze dropping to the collar around my throat. "It's gorgeous. Very much to my taste," she murmured. "Matches her eyes perfectly."

The collar was forged of black, specialized steel, deeply etched with suppression runes. Nathaniel pushed open the iron grate and stepped inside. He crouched, leveling his gaze with mine. He was close—so close I could see the black curse veins slowly creeping up his neck, no longer held back by the protection of my first feathers. There was something dark, layered in his eyes.

"Finally caught you," he said, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips. "Do you know why I never let you leave?"

I remained silent.

"Because you are mine."

He hooked a finger under the edge of the collar and jerked it hard. The runic barbs bit into my skin. Searing pain shot through my neck.

"You twisted psychopath. Let me go!" I glared into his violently possessive eyes, fighting through the sheer agony.

He didn't let go. Instead, his hand shot up to grip my jaw, forcing me to hold his gaze. "From the day you entered the Ashworth estate at eight years old, you were mine." His thumb stroked my cheek. "But why did you have to be the revered Phoenix?" He leaned in closer. "Only a bird without wings truly belongs to me."

He released his grip. Standing up, he looked down at me, a cruel twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"My little bird is only fit to fly within the palm of my hand."

Valerie slipped past the iron gate, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her chin on his shoulder. Her eyes were fixed on me.

"Nathaniel," she coaxed, tilting her face up, her voice sickeningly sweet, "I want to see the Phoenix burn right now."

Nathaniel glanced at her. "Now?"

"Mhm." She nodded, her eyes gleaming. "Didn't you say she could crawl out of the ashes? Burning her a few times won't hurt, right? She'll just come back to life anyway."

Nathaniel didn't answer. He studied Valerie's face for a long moment. His right hand hung at his side, his thumb rubbing thoughtfully against his index finger. He was hesitating. Not out of pity for me. He was calculating. If he weakened me too much, the seal would become unstable. But if he didn't weaken me, I would escape.

Valerie tugged at his sleeve, pitching her voice even softer. "Just once, please? I really want to see it."

Nathaniel's lips moved. He wasn't speaking to me. He was answering whatever twisted logic resided in his head. His eyes went blank for a fraction of a second.

Then, he nodded.

"Let them in," he ordered the guard outside the cage.

The guard hesitated. "Young Master, those three are—"

"Let them in."

The guard didn’t dare argue; he pulled a heavy iron lever. The secondary gate slid open, revealing pitch blackness. First came the sound—a guttural, wet wheezing dragged from the very depths of a throat. Then the scrape of claws on stone. Then the breathing. Heavy, erratic, and reeking of rancid blood.

The first beast slinked out of the shadows. It was no ordinary animal. Twice the size of a timber wolf, its mangy coat was ash-gray, its feral eyes glowing red with strings of foaming saliva hanging from its jaws. A second one followed. A third flanked them from the right. Three beasts. All pumped full of frenzy serum. They felt no pain, no fear. They would only attack until they dropped dead—or until their prey did.

When Valerie saw them, she shrank into Nathaniel's embrace. "So scary," she whispered.

But she didn't close her eyes. They shone with a terrifying delight, the corners of her mouth curling upward.

Nathaniel wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her out. Pausing at the threshold, he didn't look back.

"I'll have them watch. If you die, they'll collect your ashes. Once you're reborn, you go right back into the cage."

The iron grate slammed shut.

Inside the cage, the three beasts fanned out. One to the left, one to the right, one dead ahead. They didn't lunge immediately. They observed, probed, hunting for my weak spot. The runic collar was still biting into my flesh, suppressing my Phoenix aura to less than thirty percent.

The one on the left moved first. As it pounced, I desperately rolled to the side. Its claws raked across my skin, leaving three deep, bloody gouges. Before I could find my footing, the beast on the right slammed into me from the flank. Its thick skull crashed into my ribs. I heard a muffled crunch—a fracture.

I gasped heavily, dragging myself backward until my spine hit the cold iron pillar. I gripped the heavy chains with both hands. The three beasts tightened their semi-circle. They were even more excited now; they had found my vulnerability.

The left one moved again, deliberately stomping its heavy paw down onto the slack of the chain attached to my neck. It bared its teeth in a mocking grin. Without hesitation, the other two lunged.

One locked its jaws around my forearm.

"Ah—!"

Teeth tore through my flesh. I pushed outward, but it clamped down harder, violently thrashing its head. My arm flailed in its maw like a ragged doll. The third beast snapped at my calf. I managed to block it with the remaining slack of the chain, wrapping the iron links around my free hand and frantically battering the creature tearing at my arm.

The beast at my feet latched on and tore viciously. Its teeth ground against my shinbone, meticulously ripping meat from bone. The one on my arm refused to let go. I couldn't fall.

"Young Master, let it go! She's not going to make it..." the guard pleaded, unable to stomach the scene that Valerie watched with rapt attention.

Nathaniel cut him off without even turning his head. "Shut up. What is this little bit of punishment to a Phoenix?"

I told myself I couldn't fall. Not because I desperately wanted to live, but because I refused to let Nathaniel see my ashes. It wasn't fear of him. It was disgust—he wasn't worthy. Using every ounce of my remaining strength, I whipped the chain backward, throwing it like a garrote around the beast's neck. The runes on the iron seared my palms, but I held on.

I choked it, physically shoving its heavy weight off me. But I had nothing left. The collar continued to brand my neck. The suppression runes burrowed deeper into my flesh. My Phoenix fire was smothered out, incapable of sparking even a single ember. I didn't even have the power to undergo Nirvana.

If I died now, it would be a true death.

Outside the iron cage, the guard watched in paralyzed horror. But there was one crucial thing Nathaniel didn't know. I had already been reborn three times. Each resurrection had cost me a monstrous amount of Phoenix energy, prematurely burning away the absolute essence of my bloodline. The remnants of my power were barely enough to keep me breathing.

It was not enough to resurrect. If I died right now, I would truly die. There would be no future chance to throw a glass of wine in his face and sneer, "Here's to my youthful ignorance."

Powerless to fight back, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to look over at them. Nathaniel stood tall and indifferent. Valerie leaned against him, delicately swirling a glass of red wine. She took a slow sip, drinking as she watched the slaughter.

"Nathaniel... I am going to die. You'll regret this..." I choked out.

Nathaniel’s features twisted in irrational anger. "Lying to me again! You just want me to let you go, don't you?" He barked an order to the guards. "No one lets her out. Or else I'll throw you in with her."

The first beast re-latched onto my left arm. The second clamped its jaws over my right leg. The third sprang into the air, aiming straight for my throat.

I used my absolute last shred of willpower to tilt my head. Blood spilled past my lips, dripping down the heavy collar, pooling on the chains, soaking into the crushed stone floor.

My lips moved soundlessly. I knew he was watching.

I mouthed the words: I regret ever meeting you.

Just as my consciousness began to plummet into absolute darkness, just a fraction of a second before the beast’s fangs could sever my throat, an explosive roar shattered the air.

It was a man’s voice—deep, chilling, and vibrating with an overwhelming, terrifying authority.

"The last drop of Phoenix blood shall not be spilled upon the fangs of livestock."

BOOM—!

The massive, black-iron cage was struck by a titanic, unstoppable force, violently blasting into jagged metallic shrapnel.